Freshwater and Estuarine Fish of New York State
Table of Contents
	Introduction	Conservation

NEW YORK SPECIES

Watercolor of lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) by Ellen Edmonson

If the freshwater fish fauna of the state is considered as a whole, it is more diverse than that of the New England states, but less diverse than the larger states on the Atlantic slope or in the Mississippi drainage. Only one species, Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus), occurs in the New England states that does not occur in New York.

Relatively few species native to areas outside New York are introduced into the state. They are primarily game fish species or bait species. From Eurasia, brown trout (Salmo trutta), common carp (Cyprinus carpio), and goldfish (Carassius auratus) were introduced during the nineteenth century. During the first half of the twentieth century, rudd (Scardinius erythrophthalmus) and bitterling (Rhodeus sericeus) established themselves after stocking. More recently, grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) and round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) have been discovered in inland waters, and ruffe (Gymnocephalus cernuus) and tubenose goby (Proterorhinus marmoratus) have become established in contiguous waters upstream of the state. From other parts of North America, rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha), pink salmon (O. gorbuscha), coho salmon (O. kisutch), sockeye salmon (O. nerka), warmouth (Lepomis gulosus), and green sunfish (L. cyanellus) were introduced into New York inland waters. Pink and sockeye salmon may not be established. Although only 13 species (8%) are obviously exotic, the number of exotic species in each New York drainage is considerably higher. Such species as largemouth (Micropterus salmoides) and smallmouth bass (M. dolomieu), black (Pomoxis nigromaculatus) and white crappie (P. annularis), rock bass (Ambloplites rupestris), northern pike (Esox lucius), spottail shiner (Notropis hudsonius), and channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus), to name just a few, are native to some drainages but exotic in others (Schmidt 1986, Mills et al. 1997). Since there is rarely documentation definitively demonstrating that the species is introduced, it is often difficult to establish the native status of species (Daniels 1993, 2001). Only one species, the silverjaw minnow (Notropis buccatus), seems to have expanded its range into the state in recent years without human intervention.

Equally difficult is establishing which, if any, species are extinct or extirpated. Blue pike (Stizostedion vitreum glacum) has not been captured since the 1970s and is presumed extinct. Blackfin cisco (Coregonus nigripinnis), if a valid species (see Robins et al. 1991), is probably extinct. The other ciscos from Lakes Ontario and Erie are probably extirpated; these include the bloater (C. hoyi), kiyi (C. kiyi), and shortnose cisco (C. reighardi). Longjaw cisco (C. alpenae), which is listed in earlier texts, is regarded as a synonym of shortjaw cisco (C. zenithicus), which is not protected in New York. Paddlefish (Polyodon spathula) is extirpated (although records of its historical presence in New York are anecdotal). In the late 1990s, paddlefish was (re)introduced into the Allegheny River.

Several species have not been collected in the state in the latter half of the twentieth century, including gilt darter (Percina evides), spoonhead sculpin (Cottus ricei), lake chubsucker (Erimyson sucetta), and silver chub (Macrhybopsis storeriana). If not extirpated, these species are extremely rare. The difficulty in declaring such species as extirpated becomes apparent when one considers the fate of deepwater sculpin (Myoxocephalus thompsoni), mud sunfish (Acantharchus pomotis), and longear sunfish (Lepomis megalotis). These three species are also rare in New York, but each was taken in the late 1990s after having not been reported for over five decades (Carlson 1998).

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